04/04/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Tonight: up.

We hear the stories of foreign workers held in Yorkshire as slaves

as a BBC investigation reveals a rise in the number of victims.

And celebrations as the Owls pick up three valuable points in their bid

And how long can we hang onto this finding and mostly dry weather? Join

you later in the programme for the full forecast.

There's been a significant increase in the number of people

identified as "modern slaves" living in Yorkshire.

An investigation by Look North has found that more than 330 people

received help from the authorities in our region last year.

That's a 17% rise on the previous year.

The victims are most commonly from Eastern European countries

and are forced to work for little or no pay as our Home

Affairs Correspondent Spencer Stokes reports.

Eight years in captivity and now adjusting to

This man was trafficked from Poland to the UK in 2008.

Through his translator, he explained how he worked a 12 hour

He earned ?130 per week picking vegetables.

Every day, nine o'clock start, nine o'clock finish.

Work, work, no money, no money, no money.

Last year, the boss of a Dewsbury bed making firm was found

He employed 30 Hungarian men as a slave workforce at the now

He paid them as little as ?10 per day.

In Boroughbridge, 14 people were seen getting out of a

Police thought it was a people trafficking operation.

Slavery survivors are supported by the

Salvation Army, who have a contract with the Government to assist those

They are trapped, often not by keys, padlocks or

Often those threats being realised in

Men in Leeds washing our cars, women in

to be aware that it could be happening right under our noses.

West Yorkshire are seen as leaders around the investigative teams.

We support the victims and of course the Government have made this a

priority around human trafficking and modern slavery.

So, I'm looking at the national level as well as the

regional level to lead the way and make sure be bring to justice

those who get involved in human trafficking.

Once free, former slaves are later taken to safe houses

like this one in West Yorkshire.

Monica has been living in it since last autumn.

She was trafficked from Albania and dumped

next to the M1 just weeks before giving birth.

When people have been rescued from modern-day slavery,

They receive a welcome pack, bed, fridge, and a sink.

Some have been in captivity for years.

This man was freed last year as part of a police

The message from the Government and the Salvation Army is

that there are potentially hundreds of modern

Earlier this evening, I spoke to Lara Bundock

It's a charity based in Sheffield that helps survivors of human

The Government support that you heard about in the feature is

fantastic and I used to work on one of the safe houses.

It's for a very limited period of time.

At the end of that, it comes to abrupt end as

We provide one to one support work and

one to one councillors to deal with social work

support and counsel support to

That can be anything from a couple of

Can victims ever recover psychologically

from the trauma of being a slave being held captive?

We don't have a magic wand where we can take away

the past, but by putting in the counselling

resources, by putting in

professional help, it does help somebody to recover.

Just give you an insight, we support people who

have been forced into sexual exploitation from the age of 12.

We work with women who have been forced

to work as slaves in people's houses for the last 30 years.

Men who were in vulnerable situations who have

Do you think this is a hidden problem in

It is certainly a hidden problem in Yorkshire,

We have to do our best to be keeping our eyes open to

signs, indicators of what is going on.

People don't want to know that it is going on.

I think it is quite a surprise to people

when they hear things, like

you've seen on the video, that it is going on under our noses

A brief look at some of the day's other stories.

An inquest's heard that a new-born baby

whose body was found by workers at a waste management

plant in Bradford still hasn't been identified

The girl's body was found at the Associated Waste Management

site in Shipley in May 2011 and her mother has never been found.

The coroner recorded an open verdict said the case

Tests on the UK's first Tram Train vehicle are now well

The new trams, which are built in Spain,

will connect Sheffield city centre to Rotherham via tram lines

The project has suffered more than a year of set-backs.

Services are likely to begin in the summer of 2018.

Virgin Media has apologised for poor street repairs carried out

A number of residents contacted their MP,

Rachel Maskell, to raise concerns over the way fibre optic

The company says it has since changed the way it carries out

work in the city and is working with the council to resolve issues

important to ensure there is quality in the work.

So that people's communities are respected and that

any fashion you would expect to find them.

Certainly, we are hopeful for the future.

Onto football - in the Championship, an important Yorkshire derby this

evening with relegated Rotherham United facing

a Sheffield Wednesday side still chasing a Championship

BBC Radio Sheffield commentator Rob Staton was watching and joins us

live from the New York stadium for us tonight.

well, the Sheffield Wednesday head coach came into this game having to

defend a run of just 11 in seven games. Also a team looking like they

are lacking motivation. When they moved out of the play-off places

this weekend, there were many comments that this would not be

Sheffield Wednesday's season. This was not a classic performance by any

means, but they will be very relieved to get the three point in a

Yorkshire derby against Rotherham. The matchwinner on the night came

from the art form striker who managed to get those goals. Gave

Sheffield Wednesday the lead, Steven Fletcher that was, he has only

scored nine goals this season for Sheffield Wednesday handles and

combined and a third of his goals have now come against Rotherham

United. His last goal game against Middlesbrough in the cop. A late

goal that won that game Sheffield Wednesday. The owls, equities for

them tonight as derby defeated Fulham 4-2. That each of the land

they go ahead of full colour back into the top 60 night. Leeds also

lost to Brentford and that means the gap between Brentford, Wednesday and

leads expands. More of the same Rotherham, they are already

relegated. Ninth successive defeat for them and they will now have to

plan ahead for next season. We understand the interim manager Paul

worn, who do go last month, is set to be announced at the club's

permanent manager. That announcement is expected tomorrow. Big job on his

hands to get more than ready for next season in League 1. It looks

like they will finish with a record low points total in the

championship, if he is announced as expected, a huge test for him.

Elsewhere in the Championship, at Oakwell...

And at Elland Road - Leeds United went down by two goals

Not a lot for me to talk about, sadly. They settled and are mostly

dry. Already thinking of the weekend, that is when it will

swinging round to a south-westerly, swinging round to a south-westerly,

pulling out milder air from the continent, more break in the cloud,

therefore more sunny spells. This evening, though, not much anyway

have sunshine but clear skies. Entry is taking a dip initially then we

will see thick cloud building from the north-west. That may bring in

some drizzle. Temperatures dropping to 5-7 C. Lola Rowley but only light

to moderate winds. A fairly chilly start to the day. It is a flightless

but that is only in the west of the region, and only thick enough to

produce the odd spot of light drizzle. -- Lower rurally. Average

is up to 12 Celsius tomorrow, but it will stay cloudy so no sunshine. For

the next few days, largely dominated by high pressure. Much of the same.

Cloudy, yes, but mostly dry. Winds will be light and then it'll swing

round to a south-westerly, starting to Paulson slightly milder air for

the weekend will see some nice break in the cloud and nice belt of

sunshine. That's it from the late team.

bit from the south, so we could get to 18 or higher on Sunday. Now the

national focus. Good evening, things are looking good in the next

few days, some pressure drifting in from the Atlantic, bringing some

finance settled with it. Just some questions about the amount of cloud

we will see under that. The cloud we saw the sea links gave rise to a

lovely sunsets are many areas. This is the view from one of our weather

watchers in Cornwall. Look at the tones in the sky in Warwickshire

this evening. Here is the satellite sequence which

shows it was